Jaguar + Green Terror ?

[jarbunny]

wow lol - this board really came to life.

well, I pretty much decided not to get any jags or a GT in the long run. I think I'd go for a gt if I could keep it in its own tank, which likely wont be happening anytime soon.

so I ended up just sticking to firemouths.
I purchased 3 today for a total of 4. They seem to be hating on eachother pretty hard though. lol

I'll likely end up throwing plenty of rockwork and caves in there so that the lesser ones don't end up getting hurt, even though none of them seem to be getting along at all.

Anyways, thank you everyone for your insight ! I really appreciate everyone's help in this community of big fish lovers.

If anyone can offer up any advice on how I should go about with the care of these new additions, any help would be great. Right now they are mostly just lip-locking right now and mostly just gill-flaring, nothing overly dangerous at this point.

 

[chillidragon]

I'm sorry to tell you this but your totally wrong. Like I said his first post was out of order, we agree on that.

Ah, so I'm not totally wrong then. This seems to add 'self-contradiction' to your many other charms.

I don't agree that anyone should be knocking him for what he has done with that jag. All we know for certain is he had two options, 1) Leave the fish to suffer and die in an LFS...

You've presupposed here that it was definitely going to die and might not have been rescued five minutes later by someone with adequate provisions. It is rarely the case that we 'only have two options' on any matter.

2)Take it home and offer it the best care you can with the available recourses until it is healthy. Tell me which would you choose.

You know what? You're right. Next time I see an abused, down-in-the-mouth equine out and about, I'll rescue him, bring him home, put him in my postage stamp backyard and provide him with slightly better (yet still inadequate) care, such that he improves somewhat. When the yard gets fouled up and people tell me I'm keeping him in cramped, inhumane conditions, I'll say, "What, you expect me to keep him in a field??? This is better than what I saved him from! I'm doing a good thing! And anyway, it's my yard, and my horse, and I can do what I want with both." And they'll go away, well-pleased with my explanation and thinking I'm a great humanitarian.

I'm sure if one of your 'crew' did the same as him you'd be like "hey great save".

I have a 'crew'. Awesomeness!

 

[Hawkfish3.0]

wow lol - this board really came to life.

well, I pretty much decided not to get any jags or a GT in the long run. I think I'd go for a gt if I could keep it in its own tank, which likely wont be happening anytime soon.

so I ended up just sticking to firemouths.
I purchased 3 today for a total of 4. They seem to be hating on eachother pretty hard though. lol

I'll likely end up throwing plenty of rockwork and caves in there so that the lesser ones don't end up getting hurt, even though none of them seem to be getting along at all.

Anyways, thank you everyone for your insight ! I really appreciate everyone's help in this community of big fish lovers.

If anyone can offer up any advice on how I should go about with the care of these new additions, any help would be great. Right now they are mostly just lip-locking right now and mostly just gill-flaring, nothing overly dangerous at this point.

Good move with the firemouths. The best thing you can do to lower aggression at this point is to turn off the lights and try and rearrange your decor to dissolve any established territories. Keep the lights off for a few days to try and keep the stress down. Is there a big difference in size between you new fish and the fish that were already established?

 

[Aquamojo]

All we know for certain is he had two options, 1) Leave the fish to suffer and die in an LFS or 2)Take it home and offer it the best care you can with the available recourses until it is healthy. Tell me which would you choose. I'm sure if one of your 'crew' did the same as him you'd be like "hey great save".

Personally I would pick the second option. Cold? Maybe...but Dr. Doolittle doesn't live here. I will expend all of MY resources taking care of my own tanks. Just my opinion.

You guys really have the wrong attitude here. Weedamese your first comment was ridiculous, it promotes bad fish keeping. However the rest of you guys (bar shamrock) attacked him into a state of defensiveness. What he has done for that jag is a very good thing. As he said the fish is getting a lot healthier and he is doing water changes everyday to ensure that. As for the 30g, not every one can afford a 100g tank every time they get a new fish. I certainly wouldn't put a sick jag in a tank with other fish then medicate that tank. Weedamese, make sure when you rehome this jag it goes to a good home or your efforts will be wasted.

I agree with the comment about the smaller tank. I have three hospital tanks. 30, 55, and a 75 gallon. Rarely is more than one used at any given time. The benefit of using the smaller is actually counter to what some folks have been saying about filtration, etc. I only put a sponge filter in the hospital tanks...bare bottom...and a heater. With the price...and quality...of medications, the smaller the body of water the fewer meds...save money, better control over temp...quicker (and yes...even a few times a day depending on the ailment) water changes. I can't say the 30 would be my first choice for a hospital tank for a large managuense...primarily because of the amount of (lack of) oxygen in a smaller body of water. medication can put additional stress on an already sick fish. This said...I would use it if I had to. i think the majority here would be surprised on how many folks DO NOT HAVE ANY hospital tank. (You know who you are)

Now to jarbunny's question. I suggest you don't get another firemouth because one will bully the other, a group might work. I would get a group of severums and a slightly smaller GT. When they all get bigger get a tank big enough to accommodate them all. Then if the GT gets too aggressive you can keep him in the 70g by himself. Sell the rtc now he will most likely devour your fish by the end of the month. My 6" rtc ate a 3" fire mouth with no problems and I though it was too big.

This is an oldie but a goodie. 24" RTC...18" Clown Knife:

Same fish with a 5" long...maybe third of a pound piece of rock quartz.

I originally built the pond for this fish. That should tell you my position on properly housing the RTC.

 

[Headrush]

If anyone can offer up any advice on how I should go about with the care of these new additions, any help would be great. Right now they are mostly just lip-locking right now and mostly just gill-flaring, nothing overly dangerous at this point.

Welcome Back Jarbunny. What I know about Firemouths is kinda limited but I do know that they will definitely apreciate a planted tank. In addition I know of some people who use Swordtails with them..Believe it or not. I thought it was crazy too, but apparently they are from the same locations and do very well together. Together these fish make for a very colorful tank. As far as agression I'd suggest you give them a week to settle things out. Make sure they have enough structure and plants to get away from eachother when necessary. This will go a long way toward decreasing their agression toward eachother. IME all the FM's I've had were GREAT bluffers, They hardly ever strike eachother, but their display is so cool it's nice to have a little "tension" here and there. Hopefully you'll end up with a pair or 2.

You sound pretty grounded for a newer hobbyist and it looks like you're going to be in real good shape with that tank. You could probably keep 6 or so in there with good results.

Not sure if you mentioned your filtration already...what are you running on this 70 gallon? I use 2 AC110's on my 90 and they're excellent, inexpensive filters, so you may want to look into those if you're still trying to decide for the long term

Good luck.

 

[TimTheBadass]

Thanks for your input Aquamojo. It's nice to see that one of the best CA cichlid keepers I've ever come across is thinking on the same lines as me. I'm obviously not going crazy. Marc and Cillidragon I'm sorry if I got a bit hostile with you guys, I just wanted you to see where I'm coming from. You have to get things into perspective. My lfs had a 14" pacu in a 40g and I didn't buy it because I couldn't arrange a home for it in the long term. Weedamese clearly said he was medicating the jag in a 30g with daily water changes and would then sell it or put it in his 120g which I pressume already has fish in it. If the fish shows no improvement in the 30g then you are right that he's made a mistake but he says that the HITH has healed dramatically and now is looking to sell the fish to someone with a proper tank.

 

[chillidragon]

Personally I would pick the second option. Cold? Maybe...but Dr. Doolittle doesn't live here. I will expend all of MY resources taking care of my own tanks. Just my opinion.

I'm confused. I wouldn't think the second option is cold at all...?

 

[jarbunny]

haha thanks everyone !

I'm not exactly certain what type of filter I use to be honest :/ It was given to me by my neighbour who was leaving the hobby, but I also have a strong powerhead in there. The water actually looks pretty good, and I do 30% water changes every week.

I did notice that the FMs were mostly just bluffers. They just nip very lightly if anything. The original FM that was established is probably just a quarter inch smaller than the rest, but it never fully showed that strong firemouth colouration that the other ones have. I'm thinking that the three that I bought the other day were all male :/ This can't be good.

I did throw in a little clay pot, but they don't seem to be paying much attention to it. I did watch them last night when I turned off the lights and they were all huddled together all cute-like.

It's funny how this thread started with me mostly looking into GTs and Jags, and it turns into firemouths. lol - they are a very beautiful fish though.

 

[LemonHead]

This is better than reality TV!

Live & uncut MFK!

Kudos to good advice, bad guys w/ poor attitudes thumbs down!!

 

[shamrock]

chillidragon-I like your point about not giving up but comparing child abusers to people buying fish is a little far fetched-I am simply stating that there will always be an ignorant person out there that no matter what you tell he/she they will buy the fish anyways. Personally, if I saw an abused or messed up fish at a LFS and didn't have the adequate space to properly cure it I wouldn't get it-but that's me.